GARDA PATROLS have been stepped up in a Limerick housing estate following a shooting spree in which several homes belonging to senior members of one of the city's feuding factions were sprayed with machine gun fire.
Local public representatives have called on Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan, who is visiting Limerick today, to introduce emergency legislation to deal with the feuding gangs.
Up to 15 shots were fired by a gunman travelling in a stolen taxi, which entered St Mary's Park estate in Limerick at 8.45pm on Tuesday.
Six houses on St Ita's Street were hit by gunfire from what gardaí believe was a submachine gun.
Nobody was injured in the attack, however, all of the houses were occupied at the time.
Tensions have been simmering in recent weeks between members of the Collopy gang and the rival McCarthy and Ryan families based in Moyross.
The taxi was stolen on St Patrick's Day and discovered by gardaí hours after the shooting abandoned in Co Clare.
Garda patrols been stepped up in the area and gardaí are bracing themselves as fears of reprisal attacks escalate.
One city councillor who represents the St Mary's Park area yesterday warned of the urgent need for action to be taken before the violence spreads to all parts of the city.
"The violence is not going to go away, it is not going to be confined to particular areas, you let this cancer grow and it will spread all over the body politic in Limerick city and to every estate in Limerick," he warned.
"Nobody will be immune to the perverse and violent nature of these people."
The chairman of Limerick's joint policing committee, Kevin Kiely, yesterday called for the internment of members of the city's feuding gangs.
"It has now got to the stage where emergency legislation is needed to deal with the matter and I think he has to look at internment, so that these people can be locked away."
Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea described the people responsible for Tuesday night's shooting as "reckless".
"The people who did that shooting acted with complete and reckless disregard for human life and there's no doubt about that," he said.
Mr Lenihan will visit Limerick today to assess the city's crime situation accompanied by Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy.
As well as senior gardaí, Mr Lenihan will meet community leaders in Southill and Moyross and get a briefing on the progress of the regeneration plan, which has been drawn up for the Moyross, Southill and Ballinacurra Weston areas.
It is believed that Mr Lenihan will also discuss the arming of uniformed Garda units in Limerick.
Limerick and Cork have been selected for a pilot scheme to arm a number of uniformed gardaí.